ALL SCI-FI

[Bud Brewster]

In my opinion the first one, "Die Hard", is one of the greatest action movies ever.

The second one was also magnificent, boldly structuring the plot to reflect the first one, while making the details original enough to prevent the movie from just being a remake.

The third one changed everything except the all-important "poor John McClane never gets a break" aspect, and it even connected the villain to Alan Rickman's character from the first film (the brilliant evil brothers.) Nice touch.

This one could have gone so horribly wrong. Its own ambition might have tempted it to create a bloated story so much wider in scope than the first three movies that the all-important "one man against the bad guys" appeal of the previous films would have gotten lost in the shuffle.

After all, it started with "terrorist in an office building", then moved up to "terrorists at a big-airport", finally reached "terrorist threatening a city".

Naturally the next logical step would be "terrorist threatening the nation"— and rather than shy away from this daunting challenge, the film makers stripped down to their undershirts, took off their shoes, and ran right across the broken glass (metaphorically speaking) to create this one-notch-higher action yarn with a hellishly complex plot that actually makes sense to a guy of average intelligence like me!

(Okay, slightly above-average intelligence, but my superior sense of humility prevents this from making me cocky. )

I take off my hat to the makers of this film — metaphorically speaking, of course . . .
_________________
____________
Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[Gord Green]

ALL the "DIE HARD" films are top favorites of mine, although the first was, in all ways, the best of thew bunch. All were enjoyable though and Bruce Willis was the perfect John McClane!
_________________
There comes a time, thief, when gold loses its lustre, and the gems cease to sparkle, and the throne room becomes a prison; and all that is left is a father's love for his child.

[Bud Brewster]

________________________________

IMDB has several interesting trivia items for this production.
________________________________

~ The stunt featuring McClane driving a police car into a helicopter took three weeks to rehearse. The shot was accomplished by suspending the helicopter in the air with cables and combining two separate shots; one of the stuntman leaping from the helicopter and one of the car colliding with it. CGI was then used to delete the support cables and add rotor blades.

Note from me: Hey, ya gotta give 'em credit for not just CGI-ing the whole shot!

~ A water treatment facility near Los Angeles doubled as the film's Woodlawn Social Security Administration building. The facility has miles of underground tunnels, and was also used in Die Hard 2 (1990) when Bruce Willis runs through tunnels under the airport.

Note from me: So, that water treatment plant now has two big-budget film credits on its resume'. Pretty soon that place will need its own agent!

~ Scott Speedman was Len Wiseman's first choice for the role of Matt Farrell whereas Ben Affleck was Bruce Willis' first choice for the role. Willis wanted Affleck in order to recreate the chemistry between two characters previously accomplished in Armageddon (1998)

Note from me: I'm glad Justin Long got the role, because his character was a bit like the young fella in Galaxy Quest who aided Commander Taggart and company,.

~ The fighter jet is a F-35 fighter (sometimes called JSF or Joint Strike Fighter). At the time of the movie this type of fighter jet wasn't operational yet, the very first F-35 maiden flight was in June 2008. In this film the variant is an F-35B which can hover and take off or land vertically as depicted.

Note from me: All the scenes of the fighter jet and the whole elevated highway segment are eye-popping!
_________________
____________
Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)